Description:
AbstractBoth Peru and Chile needed to achieve maritime supremacy to protect themselves from each other as well as to carry the war to their enemy. The Battle of Iquique provided one of the seminal events in the naval war: Peru lost one of its two most powerful ships, giving Chile maritime supremacy. As this article indicates, had the Peruvians won the Battle of Iquique, Peru's navy under the command of the very aggressive Captain Miguel Grau would have threatened Chile's maritime traffic, endangered its heartland, and prevented the invasion of Peru itself. Quite possibly, he might have stalemated the war.